Catapult
The Catapult is a very strong ranged unit that can be unlocked through the Mathematics technology. It has the longest range in the game, with 3 tiles, but is very vulnerable to attacks. Stats * Attack: 4 * Defence: 0 * Movement: 1 * Health: 10 (15 after reaching Veteran status) * Range: 3 * Cost: 8 stars * Skills: None Strengths and Weaknesses Catapults are good for: * Fighting Giants. Catapults can do massive damage to enemy Giants. As long as they're kept away from the Giant's reach, five catapult shots can bring down even a full-health Giant even with a defence bonus. * Defending against naval units. Catapults (range 3) have a longer range than Boats, Ships, and Battleships (range 2) and are capable of destroying most of them in one hit. This means that catapults stationed inland will be able to attack and destroy ships close to shore and any beachheads they may make without any fear of retaliation. * Sieging cities. Enough catapults can keep any city at bay indefinitely, while your other units move in for the kill. Catapults aren't good for: * Fighting armies. A few Catapults against a wave of Riders, or even worse, Knights, won't be able to take them all down before they reach your Catapults. For this reason, it is advisable to protect Catapults with units, such as Defenders or Swordsmen, that can take a few hits and shield your Catapults from damage. * Attacking catapults. Since Catapults cannot attack after moving, a Catapult moved in range of another catapult will be killed by said catapult before having a chance to fire. * Tanking damage. Since Catapults have zero defense, an attack can quickly kill them. If any enemies are allowed in range of your Catapult, they can defeat them quickly, and the Catapult will do no damage defensively. Even a Catapult protected by a city wall will be reduced to 1 health by a Warrior attack, since their defence is not buffed by said city wall. Tips Strategies for Catapults: *Proper defense. A Catapult is weak when the enemy is within range. Advancing a wave of Swordsmen, Defenders or Giants in front of your Catapults will allow them to be free to attack. *Besieging cities. Two Catapults can kill just about anything that a City can produce (except Giant), which effectively shuts down the entire city to enemy use. *Sniping. This one is obvious, but should be used as much as possible. While a Catapult is able to hit a unit right up to it, it should exploit its huge range to shoot across water, between cities, and out of range of Archers and other Catapults. *Defence destroying. A Catapult is able to kill a Defender unlike other units. Also, Catapults can deal huge amounts of damage to units within city walls and are also usually out of range of a counterattack. *Keep in mind that even a Veteran Catapult dies in two warrior/rider hits and in one knight hit. So after 3rd kill with a single catapult don't upgrade it to Veteran this turn. It still can survive one hit and you can heal it to full health next turn! The only exception is a swordsman: he can kill a normal catapult in one hit but left a Veteran one with 1 hp. Strategies against Catapults: * Multiple catapults. If your Catapults outnumber theirs, then they won't be able to kill all of them before your turn. Keep in mind, however, that some of your Catapults will still die! * Rider raids. Riders have a movement stat of 2, which can be increased to 4 using roads. This allows them to get in close quickly and deal critical damage to a catapult. In addition, when you hit them, they will be left with 1 health, which will decrease its damage, but will still take up a unit space for your opponent. *Use knights. A knight can destroy almost all of the catapults attacking you due to catapults' low health and the knight's persist skill. * Spacing your troops away from enemy catapults. Catapults are notoriously slow, and if you can destroy the troops supporting the catapult before it gets in range, then you basically have rendered the catapult useless. Trivia * Catapults are the only unit to use a rock projectile. * Before the "Power" update, Catapults were extremely overpowered, with 6 attack and a cost of 5 stars. This provoked lots of outrage from the community, and they were nerfed on March 31st. Their sprite was also changed. Gallery catapultX.png|The Xin-Xi Catapult catapultI.png|The Imperius Catapult catapults.png|The Bardur Catapult catapultO.png|The Oumaji Catapult catapultK.png|The Kickoo Catapult catapultH.png|The Hoodrick Catapult catapultL.png|The Luxidoor Catapult catapultV.png|The Vengir Catapult catapultZ.png|The Zebasi Catapult catapultA.png|The Ai-Mo Catapult catapultQ.png|The Quetzali Catapult catapultY.png|The Yădakk Catapult catapultAq.png|The Aquarion Catapult catapultE.png|The ∑∫ỹriȱŋ Catapult Catapult icon.png|The Catapult Icon polcata.jpg|Polaris Catapult Category:Units